They called it peace shows how the Spanish, British, Dutch and other European powers abused law to justify their actions.
From the publishers website: Imperial conquest and colonization depended on pervasive raiding, slaving, and plunder. European empires amassed global power by asserting a right to use unilateral force at their discretion.
They Called It Peace is a panoramic history of how these routines of violence remapped the contours of empire and reordered the world from the fifteenth to the twentieth centuries. Instead of preparing lasting peace, fragile truces ensured an easy return to war.
Serial conflicts and armed interventions projected a de facto state of perpetual war across the globe.
